


I Do (Cherish You)

by politics_and_prose



Series: All That Heaven Will Allow [9]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 07:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18069266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/politics_and_prose/pseuds/politics_and_prose
Summary: David and Katherine's wedding.





	I Do (Cherish You)

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone still sticking around - thank you so much. It's been a hell of a year so far and I've finally been able to get my muse out of hiding.

“How are you so calm right now?”

David smiled over at Jack, chuckling under his breath. “Why shouldn’t I be?” 

“Uh, you’re _getting married_ today,” Jack pointed out, rather unnecessarily in David’s opinion. “That’s a big deal.”

David shook his head and adjusted his tie once again, wrinkling his nose when it still wouldn’t sit right. “Give a pal a hand?” he requested, turning to Jack. As his best friend fiddled with his tie, David sighed. “I know it’s a big deal but I’m _ready_. With everything that’s happened during the last year, I just … is it wrong to say I’m ready to just get it over with?”

“Ah,” Jack grinned, patting down the bowtie and nodding, “the Pulitzer women’ve been drivin’ ya up the wall, huh?”

“You have _no idea_. Add in my sister, and both of our mothers, and I’ve come so close to grabbing Katherine and taking her to City Hall a million times. But then I remember I don’t want her to be a widow within an hour of being a wife and I let the ladies take over. Even _Kath_ got to be a little …”

“Insane?”

“ _Intense_ ,” David corrected, “in the end. But the day is here and in just a little bit there will be no more wedding to plan and I’ll be able to enjoy being a husband.” 

“And all the stuff that comes with bein’ a husband,” Jack grinned, nudging David with his elbow and wiggling his eyebrows.

David could feel his face turning bright red, the heat almost unbearable. “Shut up.”

“Ya _nervous_?” Jack asked, smiling wider. “C’mon, ain’t like ya ain’t …” He trailed off, obviously noticing the nerves that had to be obvious on David’s face. “Never?” 

“Of course not,” David hissed. “I’ve never been married.”

“Me neither but that don’t mean I ain’t …”

“Can we not talk about this right now?” he requested, tugging on his sleeves and shifting from foot to foot. When Jack nodded and turned to adjust his jacket, David took a moment to breathe and reflect before blurting, “You don’t think she’s, you know, been with someone, do you?” He paused. “You and her never …?”

“No!” Jack was quick to respond, looking to him earnestly. “No, me and her … I don’t think she’s that kinda girl. I think if she woulda been with anyone before she got married it woulda been you.”

David nodded and turned back to look at himself in the mirror. “D’you think Sarah has?” 

Jack choked and David couldn’t help but laugh. “The look on your face,” he grinned after a minute. “Don’t worry. I know you and her didn’t ever do anything. Ma’s good at guilting us into being truthful about almost everything.”

Jack shot him a dirty look before moving over to a chair and flopping down into it. “She’s lookin’ good,” he said conversationally. “Bein’ a mom suits her.” 

David hums in agreement. “She likes it. Micah’s a good father too. And he’s been very good to our family.” His eyes skirted over to Jack, who nodded but his eyes seemed far away. “Woulda rather had someone else as a brother-in-law but he never pulled his head out of his ass far enough to do something about it.”

“I’mma let that slide since ya gettin’ married but bring it up again and I’mma give ya a black eye.”

David laughed and made his way over to another of the chairs. “Fine, fine. But Ma’s startin’ to worry you’re never gonna find a proper lady to settle down with. She’s only got you and Les left to marry off and Les is still too young to fuss over. “

“She might be waitin’ a while,” Jack scoffed, fiddling with his cuffs. “I ain’t found a girl can keep up with me yet.” Before David could speak, Jack held up a hand. “Don’t.”

David raised his own hands in surrender and chuckled. “I didn’t say anything.”

They sat in companionable silence for a minute before David pulled out his pocket watch and sighed. “I wish there wasn’t some stupid tradition of not being able to see the bride before the wedding. I wanna go see Kath so bad right now.” 

“No ya don’t,” Jack laughed. “She’s probably flippin’ out. ‘Sides, can’t be long now.”

\-- 

“You look beautiful, Katherine.”

Katherine looked over her shoulder and smiled at her almost sister-in-law. “Thank you, Sarah.” She looked up to her mother and Edith, the smile still on her face. “Is it almost time?”

“You’ve got just a little while longer,” her mother promised. “Your father will come retrieve you when they’re ready to go.”

Katherine nodded and moved over to look out the window of the church.

Choosing where to get married had been a very difficult process. Since Katherine wasn’t Jewish, they couldn’t do it in a temple – or at least not in David’s. And David wasn’t Episcopalian, so they couldn’t do it in her mother’s church. They’d finally found a Methodist minister who was willing to marry them. They would inject a couple of customs from each of their religions into the ceremony, but most of those traditions would be saved for the reception after.

Katherine was a little sad about not being married in her home church but she recognized that David wouldn’t have been able to have any of his own customs if they’d done that. Plus, it wouldn’t have been fair to him or his family. The truth was, even though she was sad, in the end it wasn’t a problem because the _where_ didn’t really matter; all that mattered to her was that she would be married to David before sundown. 

The reality was, it was unusual for she and David to be getting married anyway. Her research had shown that there was an incredibly small portion of the Jewish population marrying outside their own religion. Really, Katherine should consider herself lucky that she was wearing this dress and would become Katherine Jacobs in less than an hour. 

“You’re thinking awfully hard, Kath,” her sister said with a little concern. “Not getting cold feet, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” Katherine replied, turning back to Edith with a frown. “I’m just … reflecting.” Her sister tilted her head curiously and Katherine smiled gently. “On how unlikely David and I were to make it to today.”

“Because he’s a teacher and …” she glanced gultily over at Sarah. 

“Poor?” David’s sister asked with a grin.

“Because he’s Jewish and I’m not.”

“Just like Father and Mother,” Edith pointed out. “But I don’t think Davey’s going to be coming to church with us on Sundays.”

“No, I don’t either,” Katherine said with a chuckle. “He’s still going to go to temple. Probably with his family,” she added, looking up to Sarah, who nodded in response.

“Because he’s the one who’s in charge of holding Ruth. He’s the only one who can get her to keep quiet long enough to get through a service.”

“Something to keep in mind, Kitty,” her mother said with a knowing grin.

Katherine rolled her eyes and took a breath. “Not very soon,” she insisted. It was a familiar conversation, one they’d had many times since the wedding planning drew closer to the wedding day. “I’m still establishing myself as a serious reporter – I need to be the Sun’s version of Nellie while still maintaining my own identity – and David is still settling in with his class. He’s got a different grade this year and he’s still adjusting. Neither of us are quite ready to add parenthood to our list of responsibilities.”

“Yes, of course,” Kate replied, a little smile on her lips. “Plus it’ll give you plenty of time to just be husband and wife. Enjoy living under the same roof and not having any …” she pursed her lips and grinned, “unwanted interruptions.”

Katherine arched a brow – she and David hadn’t found an apartment yet – but was waylaid from responding by a knock on the door. She called for their visitor to come in, Sarah rushing to make sure the groom wasn’t trying to sneak a peak, but stepping away when the father of the bride walked in with a small, proud smile on his face. “Are you ready, darling?” 

A wide smile stretched across Katherine’s lips. “More than.” She watched her mother, sister and Sarah file out before looping her arm through her father’s. “Are you?”

“Absolutely not,” he said, his face serious. “I have a coach outside to take you far away from here.”

Katherine gasped, pulling slightly away. “Father!”

“Relax, Katherine,” he said with a slight chuckle. “I was teasing.” 

Katherine blinked a couple of times, not really sure she could remember the last time her father teased her, and then relaxed enough to smile. “Not funny,” she grumbled good-naturedly.

“On the contrary,” her father countered. “I thought it was very funny.”

\--

David couldn’t really remember much of the ceremony after the doors at the end of the aisle opened up and Katherine started walking towards him. He didn’t remember Jack putting a steadying hand on his shoulder when he took the step down to meet his bride; he didn’t remember Joe lifting Katherine’s veil or shaking his hand; he didn’t remember the minister asking for objections or his sister mock glaring at the assembled family and friends.

David _did_ remember the nervous shaking in his voice when he repeated the vows the minister had him recite and how beautiful Katherine’s smile was when he made it through and expelled a nervous breath.   He remembered sliding Katherine’s ring on with a shaking hand and Katherine sliding his on steadily and confidently. He remembered being permitted to kiss her and the whoop Jack made when he did.

He also remembered when Les placed the glass beneath his foot and David stomped on it, proud he didn’t slip or accidently kick it away, and kissed Katherine again as a shout of _Mazel Tov!_ erupted from his side of the church. And maybe he heard his father-in-law join in but he was too focused on kissing his _wife_ to be sure.

He remembered that their friends and family greeted them with rice outside the church and David couldn’t help but chuckle at the way their former newsie friends pelting him as hard as they could, shouting things that were lost among the well-wishes.

Later, he would remember the first time someone called his wife Katherine Jacobs out loud, remember holding her close, her cheek resting on his shoulder as they swayed to the sound of the live band Joe and Kate had hired for the party.

David would remember being embarrassed through Les’ speech and holding back tears when Sarah spoke. He would remember pulling Jack in close and holding him tightly and telling him it was all because of “one cheated pape” and too-confident kids that all of this happened; he remembered telling his best friend he loved him. 

He would remember Joe standing up, speaking on behalf of himself and his wife, and telling David and Katherine that once they returned from their honeymoon, their home six blocks from the school David taught at would be waiting and fully furnished. (He also remembered crying and thanking his father-in-law profusely, words not nearly enough to express the gratitude he felt at knowing he and Katherine would have a stable home immediately.)

He would remember dancing with his mother and sister and sisters-in-law and laughing as Les spun Katherine around the floor, twirling her into the arms of Finch then Elmer then Mush then Tommy Boy. He would remember cutting in, pulling her close, and not letting her go again for the rest of the night.

He would remember leaving the reception hand in hand and getting into the coach that would take them to her father’s house so they could change clothes and then on to the train that would take them to Boston.

But mostly, he would remember the smile on his wife’s face as she approached the ticket window at the train station and clearly said, “Reservations for David and Katherine Jacobs, please. My husband and I are just starting our honeymoon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to see in the lives of Katherine and David. :)


End file.
